Yummy, HEALTHY Banana Bread

I know, it's been forever since I've posted here. The truth is, I just don't think in terms of blogging much anymore, because of course, I've continued to cook!   But in any case, here I am, posting a recipe that I've adapted from The Wishful Chef.  I omitted the dates that were called for, as I had none, and substituted some vanilla nonfat yogurt. For the topping, I replaced the optional brown sugar with organic sugar.  It came out simply delicious.

Yummy!

 

The Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted 
• 4-6 ripe bananas 
• 1/4 cup pecans or chocolate chips (optional) (I used neither)
  
• Crumb Topping
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons butter, (I melted it)
• 1 tablespoon rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon organic sugar (optional)

 The Process:

Combine the crumb topping ingredients and set aside.  Spray or butter the bottom of your loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350 (F).

Start by having a willing pair of hands squish your bananas up while you do things like measure the flour, baking soda, and other dry ingredients together into a bowl.   You blend in your banana, eggs, butter, yogurt and once it's well combined, you can blend it into the dry ingredients. Just pour into the loaf pan, sprinkle that topping you made earlier and set aside, and bake for 1 hour.  It really is a very easy recipe, and SOOOOO good!  Of course, being healthy doesn't hurt either! :)

Enjoy!

Let's go to Philly!

Ok, that was a lame title, I admit.  I've been dealing with some pretty intense stuff that life has been throwing at me the last several months, which is why I haven't blogged about food in so very long.  Part of it was because, for several weeks, I couldn't EAT any.  Then after that, it just sort of slid downhill.  I apologize.

But I'm here with a yummy, YUMMY creation that I came up with using some Philadelphia Cooking Cream.  It's new and I got a coupon for some FREE, so hey, why not!  I have actually made this recipe three times since the Cooking Cream came out - I've tried it with all three of the flavored blends -
Italian Cheese & Herb Cooking Creme, Savory Garlic Cooking Creme and Santa Fe Cooking Creme.It really works well with all three flavors!

So here's the recipe:

• 3 boneless chicken breasts
• Frozen veggies of your liking. I used italian green beans.
• Philadelphia Cooking Cream - name your flavor
• chicken broth - approximately 1 cup
  

Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. In a large frying pan, cook the chicken in the chicken broth - basically, you're poaching the chicken.  You could also use some vegetable oil or butter to brown the chicken instead. I'm trying to keep the fat content down in our meals, so I went with chicken broth.  Once the chicken's cooked through, I add the vegetables.  Just simmer the two together as the broth evaporates.  Once it's mostly gone, I add the cooking cream.  It's much softer than regular cream cheese, so it melts and you just toss to coat everything.  You have a whole meal in one pan - my favorite kind!

In the summer, I plan on trying this with some fresh zucchini from the garden!

The 3 chicken breasts are enough to serve our 5, plus some for leftover :)

Finally, if you click THIS LINK HERE and answer a couple of questions about this "conversation" that you've just read here about Philly Cooking Cream,  you will be entered into a drawing for $1,000. :)  When it asks for the name of the person who you "talked to", just use my first name, Dawn.  Thanks!